Indian Creek soccer hangs with DeKalb, loses 2-0 at BarbFest

Hinckley-Big Rock finishes fifth at BarbFest

DeKALB – Indian Creek forward Christina Sommerfeld is used to seeing DeKalb blow out the Timberwolves.

But when the previously undefeated Timberwolves stepped onto the field Saturday for the final group game of BarbFest, the senior knew this time would be different.

The Timberwolves held the Barbs scoreless in the first half and only suffered a 2-0 defeat, a positive result for the Class 1A school.

“Past years we've always lost tremendously to them,” said Sommerfeld, who earned all-tournament honors along with teammate Alex Turner. “Just losing 2-0 and going into the half 0-0, that's big for our team. Losing to DeKalb, who's a really big school, we can take so much from this game and just know that we're such a good team.”

The Barbs had the majority of possession early, but Indian Creek (4-1-2) held strong defensively all half. Freshman goalkeeper Josie Diehl made a number of saves in the first half, and with 3:25 remaining, she made a diving stop on a shot by DeKalb midfielder Rachel Butler. Just more than a minute later, Butler hit the post.

After DeKalb rolled in BarbFest's first two games, winning by a combined score of 14-0, the T-Wolves managed a shutout in the first half.

“Obviously coming into a game against DeKalb, we just wanted to be somewhat competitive with them because they've been blowing teams out,” coach Luke Anderson said. “We were happy with the first half.”

The Barbs finally opened up the scoring with just less than 29 minutes left in the second half, when Morgan Beaty hit two shots off the post, then Danielle Dlabal gathered a rebound and scored. Just more than a minute later, Beaty found Carlie Hayes, who slammed the ball over Diehl's outstretched hands.

DeKalb came out with the win, but a freshman-loaded Indian Creek team hung with a much bigger school.

“Just from previous years, losing by seven or eight, holding them to two is just a great accomplishment for us,” sweeper Samantha Meredith said. “We'll take it as a win for us. It's not a win in the books, but we'll take it.”

After an undefeated start tot he season, the young Timberwolves suffered their first loss. But Saturday's result may have been their best of the season.

“I knew coming into the season that with our freshmen, our younger kids coming in, we were going to be something this year,” Sommerfeld said. “Just looking at them and seeing how they've played in the past, we knew that coming in this year we could do well. We're a whole different team from last year and we stepped up our game a lot.”

Royals take fifth: Hinckley-Big Rock went 2-0 on Saturday at BarbFest, defeating Mendota, 3-1, and beating Rochelle, 3-1, to take fifth place. The two wins snapped a six-game winless streak for the Royals.

Lauren Paver scored two goals in the win over Mendota while Andrea Binkley had a goal and an assist. Jacqueline Madden assisted on both of Paver's goals.

Against Rochelle, Paver, Mallory Drendel and Ana Campbell each scored for H-BR, which mproved to 5-4-2. Jordan Bullard was in goal for both games.